The strap of my duffle bag hung from my shoulder and bumped against the side of my right thigh as I quickly navigated around the apartment kitchen. The lack of pockets in my athletic leggings forced my cell phone, wallet, and keys to awkwardly be held in my left hand. My hip bumped against the fridge door to push it close after I grabbed my reusable water bottle.

The digital clock on the stove caught my attention as a small string of curse words fell from my lips. I picked up my pace. The bottom of my elbow tapped against the bottom of multiple light switches on my way to the front door.

My fingertips slipped against the doorknob a few times while I struggled to keep a tight grip on my water bottle. I groaned to myself in frustration. I was already running a few minutes late. I shifted the bottle to the crook of my left elbow to pin it against my side and reached back for the door.

The knob easily spun underneath the palm of my hand this time. The bottle slipped from where it was pinned against my side when the door swung open. My hand flew off of the doorknob as if burned by the touch and reached for the bottle as it dropped through the air. The few items in my left hand swayed to the side and pushed my phone out of my grasp.

"Oh, shit," I swore under my breath.

A pair of hands darted through the opened gap in the door. The fingers easily plucked the bottle and phone out of the air before they crashed to the floor. I sucked in a surprised breath when the hands pulled the items back toward them.

My eyes followed the hands to the crisp sleeves of a dark grey and plaid pattern of the man's suit jacket. The familiar face stared back at her with an amused smile shined bright on his face with the smallest hint of facial hair creeping along his jawline from the lack of shaving within the past few days.

"Oliver," I breathed, taken aback by his appearance outside of my apartment. "Hi."

His gaze raked the way over my left hand, smirking at the way my keys dangled from my ring finger and my wallet pinched between my thumb and palm. His attention briefly jumped to the small duffle bag that weighed down on my right shoulder.

"Still as stubborn as ever," Oliver teased with a light chuckle. "You could never focus on one thing."

The corners of my lips lifted in a smile to match the one he adorned. A breathy laugh bubbled up from the back of my throat as I gratefully accept my things back from him, nodding. The slight mention of our past together temporarily made me forget how we spent the live five years separated from each other.

"I've always had a bad habit of multitasking," I agreed with him, laughing.

Oliver nodded. His eyes dipped down to the end compartment of my duffle bag I unzipped and dropped my water bottle inside to avoid dropping it anymore.

"It's nice to know some things haven't changed," he whispered.

A look of nostalgia appeared on his face. I smiled back at him, missing the days where our lives used to be normal before they abruptly turned to utter shit. Oliver was my best friend back then and, while that fact still remained to be true, there was a lot that he no longer knew about me that kept us at arm's length.

My secret identity prevented us from being as close as we once were. There were things about me that Oliver was better off knowing. He was safer that way, long with the rest of my friends and family, who didn't know what I actually capable of.

Our past fates shared similar patterns with how we went missing for a certain amount of time, but our current common interests and mindsets varied with our lives being the opposite, considering we were at different times of our own stories.

"Uh, Tommy's not here," I said after a few seconds. "He left about two hours ago."

My thumb gestured over my shoulder at the empty apartment behind me. Oliver's gaze followed my hand motions. His attention lingered on the kitchen and living room before he pulled is focus back on me. He nodded once at the information before he lightly shook it.

"I actually came by to check on you," Oliver stated.

"Oh."

His eyes returned back to the bag on my shoulder after he glimpsed at the athletic leggings and cropped top I wore, both the same shade of teal. A thin line formed across his lips as he slid his hands into the pockets of his suit pants.

"But, it would seem that I caught you of your way out," Oliver concluded.

"Boxing lessons with Chase," I explained.

The events of last night resurfaced in my mind and plagued my thoughts like an endless fog. I barely slept through the remaining of the night without flashbacks to the attack. My eyes dropped to the ground, where the two floors beneath our shoes met; hardwood underneath mine inside of the apartment, carpet under Oliver's out in the hallway. Chase and I originally didn't have a lesson planned for today until I requested one late last night after we returned back home.

The fingers on my right hand trailed across the strap of my bag until I wrapped them around it, not far from beneath my shoulder. I hesitantly lifted my gaze up from the ground to meet his across from me. A disturbed look locked within my eyes at the sheer reminder of the panic I felt last night.

"After the events of last night," I whispered in a timid voice, nervously swallowed. "I realized I needed to touch up on my skills."

Oliver's face softened before his eyebrows lightly furrowed. He raked his eyes over my face with a look of concern written across his facial features. He had that look in his eyes that hinted he wanted to comfort me until he remembered he wasn't allowed to touch me.

"I thought you held your own pretty well," he commented in a soft tone.

"Not well enough," I murmured.

The ends of his month dipped down when he noticed the lingering expression of disappointment along my own face. The color in my knuckles gradually drained to a pale white from my grip tightening around the strap. Chase heard enough of my rant earlier this morning after Tommy left about how I should have been able to protect myself better instead of sinking back into the mindset of the weak girl I was four years ago.

"I saw you go against the man in the bedroom," Oliver pointed out. "You held up your own against him. That looked like more than just boxing lessons."

A fleeting moment of panic simmered behind my sternum at his keen observation. A blank look pulled taut over my face to mask the worry I internally felt. I knew there would be consequences to showing my skills off last night and I had simply hoped Oliver wouldn't had witnessed that altercation.

The last thing I needed was for Oliver to become too observant with my actions. The best way to keep everyone in my life safe was to keep them from ever knowing about my second identity.

"I guess my adrenaline kicked in," I responded, lightly.

The lie tumbled from my lips with ease. The few words were spoken as if they held the truth within them. My father taught me how to control my breathing, facial expressions, and tone of my voice when I needed to compromise the truth. There was no reason for Oliver to believe what I said was anything but the truth.

"Do you mind if I tag along?" He asked.

"Excuse me?"

I quirked a brow and tilted my head to the side, confused by the way he abruptly blurted out the question. Oliver cracked a smile. He released a small, breathy laugh.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I meant, can I join you to your lesson? I was impressed by your moves last night and maybe I should consider taking up a lesson."

"Chase only does private lessons with me," I told him, shaking my head. "And he's probably already on his way back up, wondering why I haven't met him at the car yet."

My voice trailed off as we heard the elevator dinged. Oliver glimpsed over his left shoulder in the direction of the two elevators at the sound of the noise. I followed his gaze, half expected Chase to step out from the silver sliding doors with a worried look.

He barely felt comfortable leaving my side to get the car ready downstairs, still overcome with a large amount of guilt for not protecting me better last night. I promised him I would be right behind him as I grabbed a few things until Oliver unknowingly held me up.

A woman in her forties, dressed in a navy pencil skirt and blazer, stepped out from the elevator with her phone held in hand with a handbag hooked on the crook of her elbow. She turned to the right in the direction of her apartment without a single glance in our direction. Her caramel hair in a tight ponytail swayed from side to side with every step she took.

Oliver turned his upper torso back around to face me. A half smile resided on his lips while his shoulders lightly shrugged.

"Okay, I may have just used tagging along as an excuse to spend time with you," he admitted. "We haven't had a chance to spend time together since I got back. It'd be nice to catch up even if you are throwing punches at a punching bag."

My heart swelled at his vulnerability and honesty. He was right. We hadn't been able to spend time alone without someone else being around, whether Tommy or Laurel. This lesson was originally to help me feel more solidified in my skills and, perhaps, release some anger about my lack of abilities from the previous night.

The door to the stairwell on the other end of the hallway flew open as a second figure entered the floor. The person pulled my focus back around Oliver's shoulder. My mouth fell open at the sight of Chase hurriedly rushing out of the door. His black tie was loosened around his neck as if from stress and having to breathe better after running up fifteen flights of stairs.

A loud sigh of relief flitted from his mouth when he spotted the familiarity of the back of Oliver's head and realized I wasn't in danger like he feared. He slowed down to a fast walk instead of the sprint he started off in.

"I was wondering why you hadn't come down yet," Chase announced his arrival as he reached halfway across the long hallway.

Oliver's head swiveled back around at the sound of another voice, followed by the rest of his body, eyebrows raised. He removed his hands from his pockets as he watched my bodyguard approach where we stood at the doorway of my apartment. The door to the stairwell slammed shut behind him.

"Now, I see why."

He bobbed his head at Oliver after he reached his side. He ran a hand through his short hair in a relieved manner. Oliver glimpsed back at me for a split second.

"Uh, sorry," Oliver sheepishly apologized, turning back to my bodyguard. "I didn't mean to hold her up. I just wanted to check up on her."

"Just glad she's okay," Chase declared.

My focus shifted between the two men. The grip on the strap slid down until my hand casually rested on top of the bag near the zipper. The idea of Oliver attending our boxing lesson seemed like a bad idea in theory. His appearance at the gym posed a threat in him potentially witnessing my skilled talents.

Chase had a history with my father, one that I never dared to question, but knew he learned the majority of his fighting techniques through him. His fighting style was similar to my father's style. Our 'boxing lessons' never quite actually included boxing. People found it easier to believe I took them up shortly after I returned home for self defense.

He was never allowed to go easy on me. The only way I could stay on top of my skills was if he fought against me without holding back in the slightest. Oliver tagging along would force us to truly focus on boxing only and pretend I was merely intermediate.

"You can tag along," I broke the silence, earning both of their attentions. "I'm sure Tommy has some gym clothes you can borrow."

Chase furrowed his eyebrows at the lack of context. I aimlessly gestured over my shoulder in the direction of Tommy's bedroom. Oliver followed the wave of my hand before his eyes landed back on me.

"Gym clothes?" He questioned.

"What?" I asked, smirking at the uncertainty he wore across his face. "You think you can tag along to one of our lessons and not join in?"

A hint of a smile formed on my face. Oliver took in my words, nodding his head. He looked back toward the hallway to the bedrooms.

"Besides, I think it would be funny to kick your ass," I added, softly giggling.

My hand instinctively reached over the small distance between us and lightly pushed his right shoulder. He looked down at where my hand touched his body. The smile fully spread across Oliver's lips. He released a small chuckle.

He nodded twice before he quietly muttered 'okay' in defeat under his breath. I tapped my hand against the wooden door to push it further open. Oliver eyed the space between the doorway and my body as I stepped off to the side to grant him permission inside.

Chase took a step closer to me. He leaned his right shoulder against the door frame without unfolding his arms from across his chest. He watched Oliver disappear down the hallway to Tommy's bedroom, easily avoided my room when he saw my opened door.

"Is this a good idea?"

I glimpsed at him from my peripheral vision before I look back toward the hallway. Oliver's figure vanished inside of Tommy's bedroom. A bead of light poured out into the hallway through the opened door while Oliver's silhouette moved in and out of it.

"Maybe not, but we'll just have to act like I'm intermediate instead of—"

"Highly advanced in all forms of fighting?"

Chase rose a brow and tilted his head down at me. My lips pressed into a thin line. I peered up at him with my entire head turned to face him beside me.

"Exactly," I agreed.

"It's not going to be as fun," he muttered in a low voice.

I chuckled at the bitter tone in his words. The two of us always looked forward to our boxing lessons. We were allowed to be ourselves in the empty gym with punches and jabs thrown in every direction. The back of his head rolled against the door frame, lips pursed in slight annoyance at the predicament.

"It will be when I kick his ass," I pointed out, broadly grinning. 

XXXX

Hi, friends. 

I've kind of been working on this chapter for the past week. I originally planned to have their little boxing lesson in this chapter, but decided to allow myself to think about what I wanted to happen during it. I have a few ideas. 

It's so funny to me that Hensley is confident she's going to kick Oliver's ass, completely unaware of what he is fully capable of. They are both going to have to hold back on their fighting to prevent the other from growing suspicious. 

Question: What do you want to happen during the boxing lesson?

So, yeah!